There and Back
by keiranumnums
Summary: Kitty was expecting just a normal day selling papers, but learning one Newsboys secret turns her whole world upside down. In attempt to escape from New York City, Kitty, Skittery, Racetrack, David, Spot, Jack and Kid Blink find themselves getting into crazy misadventures, romance, friendship. jealousy and new friends. Though with new friends comes new enemies and new stories.
1. Kitty

Manhattan, 1900

Kitty lay motionless in her bed, staring up at the dark ceiling with her arms folded over her chest. From the light shining through the window she could infer that it was probably just around 5am. A few moments past before she quietly sat up straight and let her eyes wander around the room. Everyone else seemed to be dead asleep in their bunks and would probably remain in that state for another three hours until Mrs. Bright came in to wake them. Staying as silent as possible, Kitty quickly removed her thin sheets from her cold body and jumped out of her top bunk landing in a small thud. She made her way over to the bathrooms where she splashed water onto her pale face and ran her fingers through her long, light brown hair until she untangled all of the knots. She examined herself in the mirrors and added a slight amount of powder until completely satisfied. Kitty was young, 16 years old and had bright blue eyes with long eye lashes and an all-around beautiful face. She flashed herself a gorgeous smile before heading into a stall to change into her day clothes. She wore a long, brown skirt with a simple white blouse. Carefully, she tied a purple scarf around her waist to act as a belt. Doing her best to not disturb the others, she snuck out of the newsgirls lodging house to breathe in some fresh air. She loved the outdoors. There was just something about the sight of the sky that made her feel complete. The smells of Manhattan flowed in the air around her. She closed her eyes and just let everything sink in. The sun was shining and she was ready to start the day. It was still too early to go to the distribution center to purchase her papers, so she wandered over to the Horace Greeley statue to see if she might run into someone she knew. The streets were quiet this time of morning with just the occasional worker heading to the factories. In the distance she spotted a young boy in a light pink long sleeved shirt and brown suspenders sitting on a bench behind the infamous statue. Picking up her pace to a bit of a jog she ran over to her friend and plopped herself next to him.

"Hi!" she exclaimed, joyfully.

"Oh, hey, Kitty," the boy gave with a gloomy expression looking straight ahead.

Kitty kept a close eye on the side of his sad face and asked "What's wrong, Skittery? Why you out here so early?"

"Just needed some time ta think, ya know?" Skittery responded, glancing down at his lap where his hands lay. Kitty nodded, wondering what to say next. "What about you?"

"I like to head out in the morning to experience Manhattan before it gets crowded with people yellin' to be heard and sellin' their papes on every corner," she explained.

"Oh, yeah, I get that," Skittery looked up at her. They shared a moment looking into each other's eyes.

"Skittery," Kitty interrupted the silence, "why are you always in such a bad mood?"

"I'm not!" he shot back defensively.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean for it to come out that way," Kitty admitted, turning her head.

Skittery let out a long sigh, "I've just been thinking about my family a lot, I guess." They sat in comfortable silence.

Kitty didn't know much of Skittery's past life. She had heard the story of him becoming a Newsie and getting his name countless times, but everything that happened before was a mystery to her. She wasn't even sure if he was an orphan or a runaway. But then again, maybe no one did. Skittery usually kept his thoughts and feelings to himself; at least, that's what Kitty had always noticed.

The two of them were great friends. They sold together nearly every day and had dedicated Wednesday's to 'their nights' where they would go to Tibby's for their cheapest sandwiches and split the cost. Kitty wasn't interested in Skittery as far as dating went and was nearly positive he wasn't interested in her either. Of course, rumors circulated quite often about the two, but they just laughed it off. Lately things between them had been getting hazy though. Skitts always had a negative comment to interject and hadn't been joking around as much as usual. For the first little while Kitty just brushed it off, but now she was starting to get worried.

After some time, Kitty picked herself up off of the bench they were sharing and said goodbye before heading back to the lodging house. She entered the run down, old building and saw Mrs. Bright behind the desk in the main lobby. The room had a few stray, wood chairs and a green, torn love seat for a sitting area and a short flight of stairs that led up to the girls' rooms.

"Morning," Kitty chirped, wandering over the Mrs. Bright's desk.

"Where were you off at this morning?" Mrs. Bright asked, not letting her eyes leave the page of the book she was reading. She was a short, older lady with gray hair that she always kept up in a perfect bun. She wore glasses at the end of her long nose and a plain, faded blue dress. She was a nice lady who made the girls feel at home on their very first days.

"Just gettin' some nice, fresh air," Kitty smiled, leaning over to see what Mrs. Bright was reading. She couldn't tell just exactly what book it was, but she was certain that the scene was getting very intense. "I had a nice chat with Skittery," she added.

"How is that boy?" Mrs. Bright finally looked up at the girl.

Kitty shrugged. "I'll go wake the girls up," she offered, turning her back and climbing the stairs at a fast pace.

When she entered the girls' bedroom, everyone was still asleep. She slowly took a step towards Riff's bed and lightly shook her shoulder. Riff rubbed her eyes and looked up at Kitty. She was a shorter girl with long, dark hair that she always wore in a ponytail. The newsgirls call her Riff for her amazing voice.

"Mornin', sunshine," Kitty smiled, standing on her tippy toes to wake the girl on the top bunk, Pebble. Pebble had short blonde hair and a lengthy body. She received her name due to the fact that once she finishes selling papers she always heads over to the water to skip pebbles.

Kitty continued to wake everyone, one by one, just like Mrs. Bright did. There were only seven girls in all and they were outnumbered by the boys by a long shot. The boys often teased and picked on them at every chance they got. Most of the girls found them very rude and wanted very little to do with them. They were all just a bunch of trouble makers in their eyes, but to Kitty, they were her friends. She found their jokes hilarious and thought of them as lively as opposed to immature.

"Hey, Kitty, have you seen my pocket watch?" Pebble asked, rummaging through the drawer of her bedside table.

"You mean the one you pickpocketed from that poor old man last week?" Kitty smirked, making her own bed.

The girls all proceeded to get ready for the day ahead. Fifteen minutes later, they were all rushing to do last minute preparations such as grabbing money or combing their hair.

"Ya ready ta carry the banneh?!" Rose yelled from the front of the room with her hand on the door knob, ready to leave for the distribution center. Rose was the leader of the girl newsies in Manhattan. It didn't really mean much considering they weren't "proper newsies" as the boys put it, but Rose felt it was an honor. She always wore her chestnut colored hair in a side braid. She was the oldest girl and taller than most her age with the perfect complexion. Cheers filled the room as they all rushed out the door.

"Hiya, Rose! How ya doin', Riff?" Crutchy greeted the girls while they stood in line ready to collect their papers.

"Ew," Rose snorted out, exchanging a look with Riff before budging to the front of the line.

"Aw, I'm sorry, Crutchy," Kitty said. Understandingly, she placed her hand on his shoulder and gave him a sorry look.

"Nah, don' worry 'bout it," Crutchy brushed it off. Glancing over at Rose purchasing her papes he remarked "but she is gorgeous, isn' she?"

"If only she had the personality to match," Kitty joked. Crutchy and she waited silently in line while listening in to others conversations.

"I heard Blink and Pebble hooked up," Kitty overheard Mush say.

"Don't believe it for a second!" another boy responded.Kitty and Crutchy turned to each other and laughed.

"Skittery!" Kitty yelled out, running up to her friend so they could begin selling papers. "I was thinking maybe we should hit up 38th street today, I'm gettin' tired of the same sight every day."

"Oh, yeah, sure," Skittery responded, only half paying attention to what Kitty was saying. The two walked in silence for what seemed like a decade.

"You're being really quiet today, Skitts," Kitty observed, wondering if he was still thinking about his family.

"So are you," he interjected.

"True," she contemplated whether or not to go on.

"You know, I owe you the truth," Skittery stopped dead in his tracks.

Kitty turned around and walked straight towards him. "What do you mean?" she asked. She pondered for a few moments over what it could be. Perhaps he did like her more than a friend. Maybe he was planning on running away from the newsies. Her mind started racing to as many possible conclusions as possible, preparing herself for the worst while over thinking things.

"I mean that you deserve to know about my family," he sighed.

Kitty was both shocked and excited. She never expected that he would actually tell her where he came from, and she had accepted that but she had always been just a little bit curious. "Oh," was all she could get out.

Skittery wandered over to the closest bench and placed his papers on his lap, Kitty followed. "My mother's really sick," he began, looking down at his papers, "I'm not sure how long she has left." Kitty wanted to say something. She wanted to say sorry but she just couldn't find the words. "My dad's in jail. He has been since I was born; I've never met him. My mom, she got pregnant with me by accident. She decided that it would be best if she just married my father since I was his, ya see. She didn' love him. She still doesn't and probably never will." Kitty sat down next to her friend and placed her hand on his. She looked at his red face; he was holding back tears.

She lay her head on his shoulder, lovingly and they sat in silence for a few moments until Kitty asked, "is he a bad man?" She knew as soon as she said it that it wasn't the right thing to say.

"Nah," he chocked, "my mom's the bad one."


	2. Decisions

"The guy was mad," Racetrack finished off his story, lighting up a cigar in the newsboys lodging house. It was much larger than the girls with many more bunks for all boys. Everyone was crowded around Race who was letting everyone know about his day at the tracks.

"How much did you lose today?" Specs asked, grinning.

"Ah, who's countin'?" Race shrugged. The boys all laughed. Clearly he'd lost a few bets, and it wasn't the first time. Race looked up to see Kitty sitting cross-legged on the bed across from his, "how was your day, doll face?" he asked her.

"Fine," she responded halfheartedly, "the headline was good."

"All anyone cares about is the headline!" Pie Eater groaned, spinning around and falling on his bed out of exhaustion.

"Well where's would we be without the headlines, huh?" Jack threw back at him.

"Like you care," Mush spit out, "you just make crap up anyway." Everyone nodded in agreement. Jack rolled his eyes before standing up and wandering over to his own bed.

"I'm turnin' in early," he informed his friends as he started to unbutton his shirt. "You should get goin', Kitty, and don't let Kloppman see ya leavin'!"

Kitty frowned and stood up.

"Sorry, darlin', no goils allowed," Mush joked.

Kid Blink walked over to her and placed his hand on her back, leading her towards the door. "Please can I just wait until Jack takes his shirt off completely?" Kitty whispered to him, attempting to resist the force of his push. He just laughed and opened the door for her to walk out of.

She managed to slip past Kloppman without him noticing and quietly turned the door knob that would lead her outside. The night air was cool and it looked as if there were a million stars in the sky. No one occupied the streets that evening and she liked it that way. She crossed her arms, rubbing them too keep herself warm. Her walk home she thought about the boys. She much preferred their company to the girls she was stuck living with. Sure, they were nice for a laugh or two, but they didn't get her like the boys did. Kitty was by no means a tomboy; in fact, she was very much a girl. Never in her life had she ever soaked someone and she'd rather be shopping than playing sports. She couldn't quite explain the attraction she had towards those newsboys, but something about them made her feel safe and at home. They treated her right. They respected that she was a female but still played and joked with her as if she was one of the guys. Her relationships with them were something you had to experience for yourself. Not even Kitty could wrap her head around it. She also thought about Skittery. She felt awful about his mother being sick, but then she would remember what he said about her being the bad one. She couldn't quite comprehend what he meant by that. Maybe it was her fault that his father was in prison. Perhaps he didn't even run away- perhaps his mother kicked him out. She wanted to do something to help, but knew there was absolutely nothing for her to do. The poor boy had never even met his father. Did he even know where he was located? Kitty kept thinking about her friend's situation and before she knew it was at home. She groaned mentally about having to be in the same room as Rose for the next 12 hours but sucked it up and wandered in.

The girls were all located in the lobby chatting.

"Hi, Kitty," one girl Remy welcomed her. Remy was younger, nearly 11 and Kitty loved her to death.

"Hiya, Remy," she smiled in response. Kitty sat down on a wooden chair beside Pebbles and listened to the girls' conversation.

"We're talking about the boys," Remy giggled in Kitty's direction.

Kitty made an _oooh _sound and remarked, "And which boy are you fond of?"

"Les," the younger girl blushed and looked down. Of course she was fond of, Les. Les was the only boy suitable for her at that age. He was 10 years old and brother to Kitty's friend David Jacobs. She often headed over to the Jacobs' house with Jack for dinner. Jack and Kitty had always gotten along quite well. She may even consider him her best friend. Sometimes they went weeks without talking but always knew that they were okay. He was always the one to give her the best advice. Maybe that was just because he was brutally honest. Jack's girlfriend (and also David's sister) was Sarah, and Sarah was one girl Kitty actually got along quite well with. She was about three years older and treated Kitty as if she was just another sibling. She would bicker her if the timing was right, but at the end of the day was always there to help.

"And who do you like, Kitty?" Riff asked, waiting patiently for a response.

Kitty debated over what to answer for a while. She didn't necessarily have a crush on anyone. She always thought Jack was cute, and definitely wouldn't turn him down if he ever made a move. Blink was attractive and a super sweet guy too though. If she was being honest, she wouldn't want to turn down any of them if they had feelings towards her.

"No one," she admitted. It wasn't a lie, it just wasn't exactly the truth. It was sort of like selling newspapers when talking to these girls.

"Don't tell her we told you but Rose is madly in love with one Jack Kelly," Riff smiled.

Kitty stared at her in shock. The feeling that hit her was unfamiliar. She couldn't explain it even if she tried. She felt almost protective of Jack. Maybe it was just that she hated Rose so much that she couldn't bear to see someone like her with someone like Jack. Or perhaps she liked Jack. She thought about that conclusion some more. _Jack? Do I like Jack? My best friend Jack? Jack, Jack? The Jack that I would turn to before anyone else? _The more she thought about it, the more she came to like the answer. He was a nice, reliable guy. And of course she wouldn't mind seeing what was hiding under that shirt. It wasn't the first time she had pondered over the fact that maybe she had some feelings towards him. If she was being honest, she had fantasized over what it would be like to be his girlfriend. Unfortunately, those feelings were always pushed away before she had the chance to consider them further.

"Too bad Jack has a girlfriend," Kitty finally blurted out a little bit too loudly.

"Who? Sarah? Nah, it'll never last," Pebble spoke.

"Yes it will!" Kitty yelled defensively. So maybe she did like Jack, but she also cared about Sarah and didn't like people talking about Jack and hers relationship behind their backs. "I'm going to bed," she mumbled to mostly herself before standing up and walking upstairs.

Kitty turned over, lightly sleeping. It was her usual dreamless night.

"Psst, Kitty," she heard a boy loudly whisper before feeling a hand shake her shoulder, "Kitty!"

"Whatya want?" she asked, pushing the hand away. She opened her eyes slightly and saw a large figure standing over her bed.

"I need ta talk to ya," Skittery's voice replied, shaking her again.

"What time is it?" she asked, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. Sure she was an early riser, but the sun hadn't even begun to shine through the window.

"Like 3am, I'm not sure."

Kitty groaned and got out of her bed. Skittery grabbed her hand and pulled her outside in the dark. "Could you not wait a couple of hours?" Kitty complained, still rubbing her eyes.

Skittery ignored her request and began, "So, I've been thinking a lot about my family, ya see-"

"Yeah, I know, Skitts, we went over this," Kitty grew annoyed.

"No, no, lemme finish," he instructed. "Like I was saying, I've been thinking a lot about my family. Every member of it! And what I've come up with is this: We need to go rescue my father from prison. He's innocent. I swear he is! I know it! I just know it, ya hear me?!"

"How do you know?" Kitty asked. It wasn't her place to ask, but if he was going to drag her outside at three in the morning she deserved to know all the details behind just exactly why.

"'Cause my mom's the one that sued 'im, Kitty. I know my mom and I have absolutely no faith in her. She accused my father of raping 'er, Kitty!"

"How do you know that he didn't? Maybe he's just another villain," Kitty suggested. She knew it wasn't what he wanted to hear. She realized that that had probably never occurred to him and she did feel some regret behind saying it.

"Because I just know, Kitty," his voice became more of a whisper, "I just know."

"Well what do you want me to do?" Kitty finally gave in.

"I'ma gather up a few other Newsies and we're going to head off to Chicago!" Skittery said cheerfully.

Kitty took a large step back, "Oh, no," she stood her grounds, "I am not running away to Chicago."

"But, Kitty, that's where my dad is. And besides, you don't even got a family to run away from. You're telling me you'll miss these girls? None of us have a family, Kitty. My father is all I got. And can't you just picture how great Chicago will be? We'll be away from Pulitzer, the Delancey brothers, Snyder, Weasel and everybody. We'll be free, not cooped up."

"Skittery," Kitty was shocked as to what she was hearing, was he really this naïve? "I know that Chicago would be great, but what about all the rules we'd have to follow there? Things are bad here, I understand that, but what if there are three brothers who will beat on us up there?"

"But maybe if we got a family then it won't be that bad," Skittery suggested.

"Your dad is in jail, Skitts, how would you even get him out?"

"I'll break him out! I'll do anything. I just need to get to Chicago."

Kitty really was debating over it for a good time. She understood how much this meant to Skittery but she feared he wasn't being logical enough. How would they even get there? It would take them a year to walk, and Lord knows they don't have money for transportation.

"I'll get back to you in the morning," she finally decided on. The two hugged and Skittery opened the door to the lodging house for her. He gave her a sweet and received a death glare in return.

"Thank you, I love you," he mouthed to her. She smiled and walked away.


	3. To Brooklyn

Kitty awoke with the bright, morning sun shining through the lodging house window. She had slept in that morning and was being lightly shaken by Mrs. Bright.

"Morning, dear," Mrs. Bright greeted her before moving on to the next girl.

Kitty quickly jumped out of her bunk and proceeded with her morning routine. She was disappointed with the fact that she had missed her morning walk, but it was understandable considering she had been woken up at 3am by Skittery.

Walking towards the distribution center she tried to avoid Skittery. If she was being honest, she hadn't given the matter any thought. Hopefully her friend would understand. Not quite being ready to face him, she was hoping to get some selling time with Jack in.

"Heya, Jack," she walked up to the boy after purchasing her usual 50 papes from Wiesel.

"Oh, hey there, Kitty," he smiled at her kindly after turning around from his conversation with David and Les.

"Do you think we could sell together today?" she asked with a hint of hopefulness in her voice.

Jack looked surprised; usually when they sold together it was because she needed someone to talk to. Though he was always flattered that she came to him, he also didn't like too much serious, girl talk.

"Yeah, of course," he offered her before heading off to the Horace Greeley statue. Kitty skipped after him joyfully.

"This ain't your usual selling spot," she observed as Jack read the headlines to himself.

"It would be if Kid Blink didn' always steal it," he winked at Kitty. "This is what he gets when he spends too much time yappin' and not enough time sellin'. EXTRY! EXTRY!" he yelled out, taking a step forward from Kitty.

Kitty glanced down at the papers she was holding and pondered over a good headline she could make up in her head. _Fifteen dead pigeons found on the sidewalks of Manhattan! _the paper read. "DEAD BODIES FOUND SCATTERED 'ROUND MANHATTAN; FOUL PLAY SUSPECTED," Kitty yelled for all the passersby's to hear. Most of the time when selling papes an individual would walk away interested before turning their head to face the seller and giving them a good glare. Kitty usually just smirked and moved on to her next buyer.

"So, why'd you ask to sell with me today, Kit," Jack inquired, waving his papers around for all to see, "didn't Skitts wanna?"

"I just wasn't in the mood for sellin' with 'im today, he's been in a bad mood," she addressed before thanking the elderly man who had just bought a paper off of her.

"Look, don' tell 'im I told you, but he's been 'aving some family issues the pas' li'l while," Jack revealed truthfully.

"Yeah, I know," Kitty nodded, taking a seat on a nearby bench, "I'm not sure I should really be telling you this, but last night he asked me if I wanted to go runaway from New York with him to help save his father." Though it probably wasn't the best idea to go telling Jack, she didn't regret it. She felt confident opening up to him, even if it wasn't her own secrets she was spilling.

"Yeah, I know," Jack said after selling his last paper. He took a seat on the empty spot on the bench next to Kitty and stared ahead, "I know this pro'ly sounds predictable coming from someone like meself, but I think it's a good idea."

Kitty sat in shock for a few moments before bluntly interjecting her opinion, "are you nuts? I haven't really thought 'bout it much, but I don' think there's any way of getting me to run off to Chicago. I've never even been there!"

"Kitty, I know you'se don't got no family, but what if you knew there was one person who was willing to take care of you and pay for you to survive. You wouldn't 'ave to sell stupid papes no more. You're tellin' me that if you had all of dat waiting for you, you wouldn' leave New York. No one likes New York, Kitty, errbody 'round here's jus' waitin' to get out."

She thought about it for a minute. Maybe helping her friend achieve his dreams would inspire her. Jack was right; she hated New York, everyone did. If she could get out safely she would. "There's just too many risks, Jack," she finally argued back.

"Oh, so what? What's life without a little adventure?" He flashed a white smile in her direction and gave her a playful punch in the shoulder as a motivator.

Kitty rolled her eyes, "fine," she dragged out, grabbing Jack's hand and pulling him up to a standing position. "Let's go tell Skittery."

"Hey, you, Skittery!" Jack projected while taking his first few steps into the newsboys lodging house. Kitty was following close by. "We'se gots some good news."

Jack turned to Kitty as if to tell her to continue.

"We'll go with you to Chicago," she breathed out heavily. She met Skittery's eyes and saw them begin to water up. The smile plastered on his face was larger than she had seen it in a long time. "But," she raised her finger to hint that there was more.

"Kitty, I thought we'se decided on no buts!" Jack whispered, nudging her in the stomach with his elbow.

"Only if you can promise me we'll be safe and not get in any trouble," she continued, "which means we're gonna have to bring people along who have both brains and courage."

"Well we got our boy, Jack here!" Skittery managed to word out with his mouth stretched out from ear to ear.

"No, that's not enough. We need Spot Conlon," Kitty insisted.

Kitty was one of the few newsies to never have met Spot Conlon, but she knew he was great. He was a legend to all the newsies all over New York, if not around the world. She had heard crazy stories of him escaping from the refuge countless times and even a few of his generous acts to help others escape. If ever a working newsboy was in trouble Spot Conlon was there to save the day. From what she had heard, Spot was an intimidating boy who was half the size of any other Brooklyn Newsie and according to Pebble had outstanding looks as well. Little did Kitty know, by inviting Spot Conlon to join in on an adventure nearly half way across the country she was going to get a lot more than she bargained for.

"Wow, I can't believe we're going to Brooklyn!" Kitty exclaimed in a high pitched, excited voice.

"Yeah, it ain't nothin' special," Skittery shrugged.

"Except a couple a nice dames to pick up," Race winked at Jack, playfully smacking him in the stomach.

"I can't believe you'se never been to Brooklyn," Kid Blink expressed to Kitty. Both of them were walking at a pace faster than Skittery, Jack and Race's combined.

"Guys, slow down!" David yelled from behind everyone, pushing his way in between Race and Skittery.

The six of them had finished their very last day of selling The World and were off to collect Spot Conlon. Skittery and Jack had visited him the day before and though he was hesitant at first, there was nothing a couple of bucks couldn't do.

It was a long walk from Manhattan to Brooklyn, about two hours, but it was nice exercise and they were desperately going to need the practice if they were going to try and get to Chicago. All the kids had money on them, but God only knows how much tickets for them all to travel that far by train would be.

"So this Spot Conlon, I wonder if he's as cute as everyone says," Kitty pondered out loud.

"He ain't nothin' like cute, that dirty, rotten scoundrel," Race growled from behind her. Clearly he wasn't a fan.

"Kitty, you can't be all girly on this trip," Skittery firmly lay down the rules.

"Yeah, and no crushin' on all the boys that we need. Can't let nobody get distracted, ya hear me?" Jack made clear.

Blink and Race smirked and continued walking, David dragging behind.

"You know what, I still think this is a really bad idea," David exclaimed his worries.

"Go home," Jack told him which was followed by laughter from all the kids. David just rolled his eyes.

After a couple long hours of walking, the six finally made it to what the Brooklyn Newsies referred to as 'Spot Conlon's Territory'. All it was was a long dock with wooden crates at the end, piled up.

"Ay! Jack-y boy! Look at this group of misfits," he smirked, climbing down from his tower to greet the Manhattan kids.

"Ya all ready to go?" Jack asked, throwing his hand onto Spot's back in a hard pat.

"Yeah, just lemme tell the others where I'm off to."

"No!" Kitty warned, "You can't tell anyone!"

"Ah, relax, goil-y," he rolled his eyes and wandered over to a few older looking boys. "Hey guys, sorry about this being all last minute, but I'se be headin' off to hang out downtown with me Manhattan boys."

Kitty shot him a glare and received yet another smirk in return. She was already skeptical about the boy; he seemed pretty sketchy. He definitely wasn't as cute as Pebble claimed, that's for sure.

"So whattya think of Spot?" Jack asked as Kitty and he walked a fair distance in front of the others.

"He's a jerk!" she blurted out truthfully.

"Ha," Jack laughed in her direction, "You'll get used to 'im. Pro'ly not as good lookin' as you'se was expectin' either."

"Definitely not!" Kitty admitted. Jack gave her another small laugh before turning to face the others. "'EY! PICK UP THE PACE, WILL YA?"

"Put a lid on it!" Race flew the hand that wasn't busy holding his cigar up in the air. The others just rolled their eyes.

"So, uh, what's the plan?" Blink asked, curiously.

"Well I suppose we're gonna need a place to stay for tonight, then we can get moving in the morning," Skittery suggested.

"Sounds fair," Blink shrugged.

"No, no, no!" David interrupted. "We can't just stay at a place in Brooklyn for the night! We need to get a move on!"

"Davey's right," Kitty admitted, "as soon as Mrs. Bright and Kloppman realize that we're missing, they're gonna send for Snyder or yell for police or something! We need to get as far away as possible before it gets dark."

"You're all idiots," Spot remarked, "Why do we have to only be movin' in the day time? Why don't we'se just start on this little adventure right away?"

"I don't think Kloppman would ever shout for Snyder," Blink pointed out.

"True, but 'e'd be worried enough ta call out ta somebody," Race interjected.

"I'm getting tired enough to hit a mattress now, how about we just stop in Harlem or somewhere? That's pretty far," Blink suggested.

"It's at least a start," Kitty tried to reason with the rest.

Bickering broke out between them as Jack stayed silent and searched his pockets for any spare change.

"Oh, 'ere we go, I gots a map," Jack said, pulling out a map of the United States from his back pocket. "Looks as if there's a train station just a three hour walks from 'ere,"

Everybody shut up and agreed that it would be best to go there to at least see when trains were leaving.

It was a long walk and wasn't enjoyed by a single one of the newsies. Kitty and Spot didn't get along at all and Kitty regretted bringing him along more than anything. David wouldn't shut up about the fact that this was the most risky thing he had ever committed himself to and was scared out of his mind about what his parents and siblings were going to think. Racetrack was always in need of a stop to catch his breath. And last but not least, Blink and Skittery couldn't keep up with the others' pace to save their lives and were always dragging some feet behind. Jack on the other hand, no one even realized was there half of the time. He kept quiet other than a few odd words to Kitty and Spot here and there. After hours of putting up with everyone's flaws, they had finally made it to the train station.

"Thank god," Kitty let out a sigh of relief.

**A/N: Alright, if you're still with me then I thank you. I realize the story may be getting a little bit boring, but just you wait. I have lots of drama planned out for the next chapter and yes, some romance will begin to blossom. It would be awesome if you could leave a short review and also let me know who out of the six boys you would prefer to see Kitty end up with. I have no preference. I think it would be cute for it to be Spot, but I also feel that would be predictable. I'm sort of skeptical about Skittery or Jack since they're such good friends, but that could also make for an interesting story line. So let me know! **


	4. A Cold Harlem Night

Spot, Jack, Kid Blink, Kitty, Race, David and Skittery all sprinted towards the train station doors that lay a few meters away. Jack reached for the door handle and poked his head inside. It was a small, vacant room with connecting chairs along the walls for future passengers. Directly across from him was a booth for purchasing your tickets with a glass sheet to separate them from the station clerk. She was an older lady possibly around her 50s, with pale, red hair held up in a messy bun. As far as size went, she was a little on the heavier side and she wore no trace of a smile.

Slowly and with caution, the kids all followed Jack into the station.

"Uhm, excuse me, miss," Jack waved his hand at the lady behind the glass and strutted up to her with confidence. "I was wonderin' if you had any tickets for the next train to Chicago."

The lady glanced up at the children all standing before her, clearly surprised at the fact that they thought they could get out with just a couple of bucks in their pocket and sorry expressions. Keeping her eye on them, she pulled out the train schedule.

"There's one leaving on Tuesday."

"Tuesday?" Skittery replied, doubtfully. "We can't wait 'til Tuesday! That's three days away, lady!"

"30 bucks for all of ya," the station clerk told them, looking away.

"What?! 30 bucks! That's ridiculous!" Racetrack raged.

"It sounds like a fair deal, ta me" Blink responded, shrugging.

"The money ain't the pro'lem, boys," Jack reminded them. "The pro'lems that we'se gots nowhere to go."

"Whicheva trains tha one ta leave next; get us on dat one," Race interjected, lighting up a cigar.

"The next train leaves at 6am tomorrow morning to make its way to Ohio," the lady coughed at the smoke the filled the air from Race's cigar.

"Ohio, where's that?" Skittery asked. Most of the newsboys had never had a day of schooling in their lives and things that may seem like common knowledge to most, wasn't considered so to the newsies.

"It's on the way to Chicago, but we'd still have a ways to go. That means more money," David cleared up the situation. "Of course it would mean money that we don't have. I have about 10 dollars after stealing some from my father, but all you guys have is maybe 6 bits each."

"I do not only have 6 bits!" Race declared.

"Have you checked since you got back from the tracks?" Kitty joked, looking around at the others to see if they'd crack a smile. No one broke.

"And remember; we have to eat," David knocked some reality into the naïve boys' minds.

After much arguing, the kids finally all purchased their tickets to Ohio. In total it came to 25 bucks since it wasn't quite as far as Chicago. Apparently Spot had been keeping some change stashed away for a couple months and was able to pay a large portion of the money. Everyone had scattered around to the different seats around the room and were prepared to stay the night on the hard wood chairs that were supposedly meant to keep you comfortable. Kitty sat with Skittery, Race and Blink while David, Spot and Jack were all bickering at each other on the other side of the station. Kitty observed them and thought about earlier when she was talking about some of the newsboys with the girls.

"Hey, uh, Kitty, you'se alright? Ya lookin' a li'l sleepy," Race snapped his finger at her. Apparently she had been zoned out completely on Jack's face.

"Oh, yeah," she brought herself together.

"Looks ta me as if she's been staring at Jack," Skittery teased.

"Have not!" Kitty shot back defensively.

Race gave a long whistle and a smirk to Blink.

"I was just jokin', Kitty," Skittery informed her.

"Oh," she looked down at her lap embarrassed. A silence fell over the group of newsies.

"Well, ya gotta tell 'im, Kitty! I mean, well, ya gotta!" Blink told her, excitedly.

"Tell him what? I told you, I don't like Jack," she steamed up a little bit.

"Sure ya don't, doll face," Race responded, receiving quiet laughs from his friends.

"Hey, Jack, don't you think Kitty's been awfully quiet on this trip compared to usual?" David asked, looking down at Jack's map of the U.S.

"Girl can't keep 'er damn mouth shut," Spot argued back.

"Ehh," Jack was indifferent, "She's pro'ly jus' been thinkin'. Feelin' bad for Skitts, I think."

"Look at her," David observed, "Can't stop staring at you."

Jack turned his head, accidentally making eye contact with Kitty. He held the gaze for a few seconds, offering her a sweet smile before going back to his conversation with the boys.

"Goils just tired, dat's all!" Jack brushed it off.

"I don't know," David was hesitant before carrying on, "I think she might like you, Jack."

"Nah," Jack didn't believe it for a second. "Like I'se said a million times, the goil's my bes' friend, I love 'er, she loves me but as friends, ya know, an' it ain't goin' no further than that."

"Jack-y boy's got himself a goil by the looks of it!" Spot elbowed his friend in the stomach.

"No, no, I gots Sarah and she's all I'se could eva ask fo'."

"Look, Jack-y boy, I don' mean to be gettin' in the way of your relationships 'ere, but the way she's starin' at ya is sorta makin' me feel a li'l bit uncomfortable," Spot awkwardly repositioned himself so his back was facing the love struck girl.

"We should probably be getting some sleep. We have a long couple of days ahead of us," David instructed his friends. Spot nodded in agreement and the two of them spread out on the chairs. Jack took his map back from David. He wasn't feeling tired yet so he just relocated himself to the ground and leaned up against a vacant wall.

"Looks like 'em other boys are gettin' some rest now, maybe we should join 'em," Blink suggested, removing his cap. Everyone nodded in agreement and found places in the station to lie until morning.

After an hour or so of tossing, turning and shivering all but Jack were lightly sleeping in their designated areas. Observing this, Jack looked up from the map that he had been blankly staring at and quietly stood up. He took every step with caution, pausing occasionally when the floor boards creaked. Once he reached his destination, he squatted down and gave Kitty a light shake. "Kitty," he whispered.

Kitty sleepily rolled over onto her back and rubbed her eyes before slowly opening them and looking at Jack. She got slightly self-conscious about her appearance and cursed herself, telling herself that she didn't like Jack over and over in her head.

"Yes?" she asked lifting herself into a sitting position.

Jack opened his mouth to say something, and then it occurred to him that he didn't even know why he had woken her friend. "I jus' wanted ta talk, I 'spose,"

_What's up with me always having boys standing over me while I sleep just because they want to talk, _Kitty thought to herself.

"'Bout what?" she asked, slightly intrigued as to what Jack had to say for himself.

"Why's don't we go outside; don' wanna wake nobody," Jack said, holding out his hand to help the girl up. She gladly took it. They swiftly walked out of the train station and into the cool breeze of Harlem's night.

Kitty shivered, "it's cold."

"Yeah," Jack nodded, crossing his arms over his chest to keep himself warm. "Oh," he quickly removed his jacket and handed it over to Kitty, smiling.

"Thank you, that's sweet," she kindly acknowledged yet not attempting to be nice by offering it back.

"Yeah," Jack looked and the ground and placed his cold hands in his pockets.

The two newsies stood in comfortable silence, never allowing their eyes to leave one another's.

"So, uhm, why'd you call me out here, again?" Kitty awkwardly interjected.

"Cause I just wanted to talk I 'spose," Jack shrugged, breaking the eye contact.

It was funny; when Skittery had pulled her out of bed at three in the morning to talk, all she wanted to do was punch him in the face for waking her, but with Jack it was different. She was almost glad that he had done that.

Kitty smiled, flattered yet embarrassed.

"Does Sarah know you and David are here?" She asked to fill the dead air, though genuinely interested in Jack's response.

"Ah, yeah, Dave told 'er," Jack sounded disappointed.

"Why didn't you?" Kitty stood up straight.

"I didn't want nobody knowin' but us!" he defended himself.

"Well she is your girlfriend, Jack," she felt the need to remind him though it pained her to remind even herself.

"Yeah, well truth is, Kitty, things 'aven't been goin' so smoothly lately," Jack admitted.

What? Was he telling the truth? Despite the fact that it pained her to know Pebble had been right about him and Sarah and was saddened that Jack's first long-term relationship was falling apart, inside she was overjoyed with the news that she may actually have a chance with Jack Kelly.

"Well, not telling her that you were running way to a whole other state may not have helped the whole situation," Kitty tried to play cool.

"No, you're right, Kit! It didn't!" A look of pain hit Jack's eyes.

"I'm sorry," she projected at just above a whisper.

"It's fine, I jus' pray that things'll mend, ya know?"

"Yeah," Kitty looked down at her feet and nodded.

"'Ey!" Jack interrupted his friends thoughts, "I didn' bring you out 'ere to make ya sad! C'mon, I'se was stupid ta bring ya out 'ere anyways. Let's go back in, okay?" He smiled and put his arm around Kitty as they both walked back towards the doors of the train station. Kitty paused as they stood under the guidance light directly before the doors.

"Jack," she thought about what she was going to say and why she was going to say it. It was time to stop pretending to herself. "I love you," she chocked with a look of pure helplessness on her face.

Jack turned around and looked her in the eye, placing a hand on either shoulder. "I know, Kitty, but like I said; things'll be okay. Thanks for worryin' 'bout me. You're the best," he gave her a little smile before preceding though the doorway.

Kitty stood outside motionless for a few seconds. Jack would never understand her new feelings towards him. They were best friends and it must seem pretty clear to Jack that that was all they would ever be.


	5. On Our Way

"Holy shit!" Spot Conlon rapidly jumped up from his sleep after hearing the whistle of the train outdoors blow.

"Well, I do believe the trains here," Race sat up straight and rubbed his eyes.

Kitty rolled over and groaned into Jack's jacket which she had been using as a pillow. "Why is it so early?" she complained, mostly to herself.

"C'mon, fellas, grab your tickets 'n le's go," Jack began heading out the back door that lead to the tracks. They all sleepily followed his lead.

One by one, the children all stepped onto the train and handed the conductor their tickets. It was their first time being on a train due to lack of money and places to travel and they were all pleasantly surprised by how nice it was.

"Travelin' first class!" Blink exclaimed as he took a window seat. The chairs were leather and plush making them not only look nice, but feel nice too.

Skittery plopped down next to him and smiled, "I can't believe we're finally on our way!"

Spot and Race placed themselves in the two vacant seats behind Blink and Skittery while Kitty and Jack sat opposite them with David uncomfortably positioned behind, next to a young lady in a deep pink dress reaching down to her ankles and her dark hair pulled into a bun. She was writing in a small diary with a black cover.

"You know I don't like conversing with strangers, Jack," he whispered to his friends faintly enough that the lady couldn't hear.

Jack let out a small chuckle before speaking, "Den don' talk to 'er!"

The girl gave him an odd look before returning to writing in her book. Kitty laughed and shook her head.

The first hour or so of the train ride the newsies' section was filled with laughter and energy. You had to yell to be heard. The young lady seated by David- whose name they learned to be Ana- took the occasional glance upwards to observe what in the world the boys were doing. Eventually, David and Spot decided it would be to both of their benefits to switch positions. David no longer had to put up with the awkwardness of feeling the need to fill the silence between the two by asking her questions he believed to be small talk and Spot was able to flirt with her. Of course, like most girls her age, she was not fond of Spot one bit.

"Excuse me," she interrupted him as he spoke, "do you think you could possibly quiet down? I'm trying to write." She offered him a sweet smile before returning to her work.

Spot was taken aback by the request. He was not used to woman bluntly rejecting him like that. "Well, sorry, miss," he huffed, crossing his arms and slouching down in his seat.

He remained in that state while a few moments past before Ana closed her diary and turned to face towards him. "How old are you?" she wondered aloud, becoming suddenly more intrigued.

"Uhh, well," Spot recovered his original posture, "I'm 16, but don' let that hold ya down; I'm real mature for my age, ya see?"

Ana nodded before interjecting, "Well, maybe you should hit on someone your own size?"

Jack turned his head and nearly broke out laughing at Spot's reaction. Spot was utterly shocked. Was this girl really talking to him like that?

"Lady, do you know who you're talking to?"

"Well, I do believe you're Spot Conlon, the Brooklyn leader. You have mentioned it several times in the past hour."

"Looks like you're outta luck, Spot. I saw a 12 year old passin' through 'ere a while back, maybe she's a bit closer in age," Jack finally cut into the conversation he had been longing to join just for the sake of embarrassing Spot in front of his newest target.

The rest of the newsies couldn't help but break into heavy laughter as they listened in.

"Yes. Or perhaps this young lady right here," she gestured towards Kitty who suddenly joined in the fun.

"Me?!" she spit out, trying to control herself.

"Or did you already try throwing yourself on her and fail?" Ana appeared to be getting the hang of Spot's personality quite quickly.

"I'm sorry, let me start over," Spot offered. He clearly wasn't used to being turned down before and wasn't about to experience it for the first time in front of his friends.

"No. I will not allow for such things," she stood her grounds, "I gave you one chance as one chance should be enough to prove yourself a gentleman. You have not shown me a high enough level of maturity and therefore I will not allow you to just march right back up to me for a second attempt. You are an insensitive womanizer who does not deserve me nor any other woman for that matter." With this, Ana stood, passing Spot and relocating to a seat much further away.

The jaws of Spot's fellow newsies appeared as if they had dropped to the floor. Though highly amusing to the others, Spot was actually quite hurt. Being rejected was one thing, but storming away in the presence of those he was trying to impress was another. Of course, he didn't really need to accomplish much in order to appear superior to all the others he accompanied on this trip, but he sure didn't want to seem like the loser he had been made out to be. He was the leader of the Brooklyn newsies for Christ sake! He deserved respect whether he dished it back or not.

The next half of the train ride Spot spent slouching in a corner by himself wishing things had gone differently. Jack and Kitty had played tic tac toe as many times as they could on the back of Jack's map whilst David, Race, Blink and Skittery all held casual conversations of their own.

Tired of witnessing Spot's attempt for attention, Skittery finally wandered over to sit next to him.

"Whad'ya want?" he asked miserably.

"I just wanted to make sure you were alright," Skittery lied.

"I'm fine," Spot barked back.

"I realize some of the others may disagree, but she wasn't that old, right? She was pretty young. I'm surprised after speaking to you she didn' wanna find a private room in this place, huh?" Skittery decided it would be best to go into this conversation with a bit of a compliment.

"I know! She was only 19 at the oldest!" Spot defended himself.

_What an insensitive twat, _Skittery thought to himself, though trying to push the thoughts aside in attempted to come up with something else to say that wouldn't make Spot feel more confident and cocky than he already did.

"You know why I really did it?" Spot leaned closer to Skittery, double checking that no one was listening. Jack and Kitty were laughing to themselves about something while the others seemed to be having another one of their useless arguments. "I was just tryin' ta make Kitty jealous," he admitted.

Skittery wasn't surprised. Spot was clever like that; trying to pick up one girl to make another feel jealous. Either way he would get a girl, whether it be the first or second, or on a lucky night, both. "You really shouldn't be tryin' to pick up the girl you'll be stuck with the rest o' however long we'se be out in Chicago for," he tried to reason with his friend.

"No, Skitts, I really like her. I ain't tryin' ta pick 'er up! I really do like her."

This, on the other hand, surprised Skittery. It wasn't like Spot to actually have feelings towards a girl and he wasn't sure he was buying it.

"You gotta help me get 'er. Just, don't tell the others, okay?"

Skittery debated for a moment, still getting over the initial shock of Spot liking a girl and wanting to stay with her for more than a night. Spot had done so much for him just by coming along on this crazy adventure; it was the least he could do. "Fine, I'll help you get Kitty. But I'm pretty sure she's in love with Jack." The two of them both agreed with the statement and things were settled; they needed to stray Kitty away from Jack and right smack-dab into Spot's arms.

A/N Alright, short chapter but hopefully straight down to the point. I'll try to post the next one tonight sometime. I can say tonight, right? I mean, it is 12am. Anyway, yes, I went there; Spot is in love with Kitty. Or, so you think. Is he really? You'll have to wait to see in future chapters! And in case you're wondering, yes, Ana will be making more appearances throughout. I originally was just going to have her as some random person sitting next to David awkwardly, but I sort of strayed from that and ended up really liking the character. Let me know what you think of her, please? She's very formal and blunt and it is clear once you get to know her that she comes from a rich family. Though I can promise you she is actually very sweet. And that's Ana not Anna. Mhm, they're pronounced differently. I named her after Ana from Spring Awakening even though their personalities are much different.

ALSO BECAUSE I SEE OTHER PEOPLE DOING THIS I THOUGHT I WOULD TOO, SO HERE WE GO, REVIEW TIME.

Awkward I only have 3 reviews but I thought this may inspire others to review?

Ealasaid Una: "Kitty is a great friend." Isn't she? I love her a lot. I hope others do to since you never really know with an OC how people will react.

Panda Bear: "Thank God Kitty didn't hook up with Spot! Whew!" Haha! We'll see! I haven't quite made up my mind… If anyone has an opinion on who she should be with then lemme know!

Mynameisawesome: "please please please update please will you please update?please update...update?" Well since you said please, I guess I have to. Are you really this intrigued? I'm shocked, yet very flattered. I hope you enjoyed this update and I'll have more soon! I love writing this fic! It's my favorite that I have going!


	6. One Horse, One Home and Two Girls

Looking around the train, Kitty saw nothing but sleeping newsboys and warn out passengers. She was nearly certain they would be arriving within the half hour. Feeling slightly tired herself, she leaned back in her chair. She allowed her eyes to wander over to Jack's face. He looked so peaceful and content. Slowly, her eyes began to shut though she tried her best to keep them open. Taking one last look around, she noticed a man in a long black coat stand up out of his seat and begin to walk down the thin aisle. Through her tired eyes she observed him slyly slipping his hand into David's pocket in attempt to steal some change. Not believing it at first she tried her best to ignore it. Feeling a sting of guilt, she quickly got onto her two feet and looked straight into the older man's pupils with a look of anger.

"Put that wallet down," she threatened in a low voice, trying not to disturb anybody. A few fellow passengers noticed the exchanged but decided to mind their own businesses.

The man was shocked at the fact that a young lady such as Kitty was standing up for something. She kept her glare. He did not return the wallet back to David- who had not yet woken- but instead began to back away slowly until he just about reached the train doors.

"Hey!" Kitty yelled at him, "I said put the wallet down!" Her yell awakened Jack and the others. Jack turned his head and stood up immediately while the others sat petrified in their own seats. Being poor and without a well-paying job, the boys had experienced things like pickpocketing a lot in their lives though mostly from innocent children as themselves.

"What's a little bitch like you gonna do about it?" the man growled at Kitty.

She felt anger start to boil inside of her.

"Kitty, sit down," Jack demanded, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You need ta give my friend's wallet back," he directed towards the thief.

"There's nowhere to run!" Kitty barked, not feeling the desire to give up. Though feeling thoroughly terrified by the man's act, she repositioned herself to move closer towards him. She wore a threatening look upon her face.

He returned the look and they spent what felt like the longest five seconds of Kitty's life glaring deep into each other. All of the sudden, the bigger man ran up towards Kitty and tackled her to the ground. Straddling her, he threw as many punches as he could upon her pale face as she tried to protect herself by blocking him. She screamed as loud as she could between attempts of pushing him away. Passengers became frightened at the sudden acts of violence, though none of them did anything to offer help to the suffering, young girl. As soon as Jack saw the man pounce he tried to run to Kitty's aid, only to be held back by his friends.

"You think this is some joke?!" he yelled at them, trying to push past, "I gotta save 'er!" and with that he ran towards the two on the ground and used all his strength to pull the man off of his friend. The thief threw a punch to Jack's right cheek to receive one in return. Jack quickly ran backwards after severely wounding the man by kneeing him in the stomach and grabbed Kitty by her arm. "Are you insane?" he yelled at her, shocked yet strangely amused by her brave attempts.

"I'm sorry, it's just he stole David's wallet and no one was doing anything and-" Kitty began to trail off as the tears started flowing down her beat-up face.

Jack, though seemingly angry at the girl, took her in his arms and held her close in a tight, intimate hug.

The train jerked to a stop and the conductor who had allowed them on returned to their cart.

"I'll just go explain what happened," Skittery quietly offered and headed over to the conductor in hopes of retrieving David's wallet and perhaps getting the man who was currently hunched over in pain arrested.

Passengers began filing out in an orderly fashion though some remained until the next stop. They were in Westerville, Ohio and still had a long way to go before reaching Chicago. Once the group of seven had gathered outside after Skittery's return from his brief and one-sided conversation with the conductor, they began discussing the plan from thereon in straight away.

"Well we just lost nearly all of our money," Blink threw his hands up in disbelief.

"S'only David's, I'm sure we'll be just fine," Race spoke calmly.

"And mine," Skittery admitted, "I thought it would be best to leave it with him since he's the most responsible, ya know?"

Jack let out a long sigh. "Alright, well first things first, we'se better be gettin' Kitty to a hospital or sommem' soon."

"I'm fine," she reassured him, despite the fact that she was holding back violent tears from the throbbing pain she felt against her cheek and chin; the areas in which the man had punched repeatedly.

"We still need a place to stay for tonight," David reminded them.

"Let's just take things one step at a time and go find somewhere ta eat," Spot began to walk away from the group, fed up with the bickering he had been undergoing throughout the trip.

The rest of the children all agreed, though some against their will, and decided to follow Spot.

Once traveling by foot for nearly twenty minutes, they came across a small restaurant that's windows were sparkling after being freshly washed. The seven of them walked in without any hesitance and took a seat in the largest vacant table. A waiter who looked around forty or so came over to greet the newsies and ask for their orders.

"What can I get for you?" he asked, pulling out a pad of small, white paper from the pocket in his apron.

"Seven of your cheapest sandwiches," David ordered for them all with a smile before the man scurried off to get their food prepared.

"Hey, isn't that Ana?" Racetrack observed, putting out his most recent cigar with the palm of his hand and wincing.

Everyone turned to look in the direction Race was focused on.

"Hey! What'ya know? Why don' we invite 'er over 'ere?" Jack suggested enthusiastically.

"Not sure if she can put up with Spot that long," Blink joked, receiving faint chuckles from his friends.

"'Ey!" Jack yelled across the restaurant, "Ana! Come ovah 'ere!"

Ana looked up at where the newsies were seated with a shocked expression. She suddenly became more interested in her cutlery than the boys and pretended she hadn't noticed. They were not oblivious to her acts.

"We know you saw us!" Skittery called her out on her insensitive acts.

Ana quietly groaned in her seat before standing up and facing the boys with absolute perfect posture. "What would you like?" she asked in her most snobby of voices.

"We jus' wanted ta say hi!" Blink informed her, greeting her with a smile as she headed over to their table.

"Well hello. It was nice meeting you earlier this afternoon on the train, but I regret to inform you that I will not be able to be seeing you boys any longer." She stood at the end of their table waiting for a response from any of the select boys.

"And they understand that and are very sorry," Kitty apologized for her friends, slapping Jack and Skittery's knees under the table where they weren't visible to Ana.

"Thank you, Kitty, I truly appreciate it. You've been very kind to me and I hope that you enjoy the time you spend on this trip. The rest of you best be learning how to behave yourselves in public places. Yelling across a crowded room at a lady is no way to treat her nor display yourself to others in the community. Though I suppose you would not have learnt those things where you all are from; none of you look like you have had much education in your pasts," Ana insulted, quite proud of herself. Usually she was quite friendly, but like any other girl of her upbringing, she did not appreciate nor have the time for those of a lower class, and that included Newsies. Turning her head to glance out the door she noticed a horse drawn carriage pull up outside the restaurant. "Now, if you will excuse me that is my ride."

"You own a horse?" Race suddenly became much more interested in the girl than he had in the past. Perhaps he knew this horse from a race. He knew a lot of the racers were transported from other locations in the country and maybe this one had just happened to be sent back.

"Yes in fact, I do own a horse. But she is not a pet; we keep her merely for the purpose of travel," she educated the boy.

"How da you afford all that?" Jack questioned, taking another look at what she was wearing and for the first time noticing that she was dressed much nicer than most of the dames he saw wandering around Manhattan.

Kitty noticed Jack looking at her body and jumped to the conclusion that he had grown fond of her after discovering the fact that she was rich. It immediately disgusted her. So what if she wasn't rich? She was perfect for Jack; definitely more so than Ana.

"My father owns most of the factories in town," she responded in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Say, do ya think he could gets us a ride ta Chicago?" Skittery jumped with excitement.

"Certainly not!" Ana declared, seemingly offended by the request, "Besides, there is not enough room to carry you all. Thank you and good night." She began to exit the door.

"Stupid boy," Race mumbled under his breath.

"Wait, Ana," Kitty followed her, reaching her just in time. "Do you think you could let us stay at your place for a night or two? Just until we can figure out a plan, ya see?"

Ana opened her mouth to speak, and by the looks of it, she was going to declare 'no'. She debated over the idea for a few short moments. What harm could it do her? At least this way they would be out of her hair sooner. "Oh, fine. But my father mustn't find out. You may spend eight hours a night in the guest bedroom. He should be home from nine pm until seven am so you may stay from ten until six."

Silent cheers filled the air along with strong high fives and cries of happiness.


	7. But You're a Goil

"Oh my god, it's huge," Kitty leaned over and whispered to Jack as they walked up towards the doors of Ana's home. Jack nodded and continued to walk forward remaining in complete shock. The house looked as if it was two stories high. There was a typical white picket fence surrounding the outside area of the property with bright green grass filling the small front yard.

Spot, Race, David, Skittery and Blink all followed sleepily behind as they attempted to keep their eyes open with every step. They had been without proper rest for longer than they were used to and it was beginning to all catch up.

"Do we knock?" Blink asked as they all crowded around the front door.

"Obviously we knock, smart ass, how else are we supposed to get in?" Skittery shot at him.

"Well, I just didn' wanna wake 'er parents!" Blink defended himself.

"Maybe i's open," Jack suggested, reaching for the door knob.

"No," David grabbed his friends hand and pulled it back, "we can't just barge straight into a girl's house. We need to knock."

Kitty stepped back from the debate and rolled her eyes. _Did it really matter? Ana was expecting them and her father was already asleep, _she thought to herself.

"Don'cha think it's just a li'l disrespectful ta just be walkin' into the goils house?" Spot argued.

"Why would you care?" Jack knocked some reality into the boy, "Besides, she told us ta come 'ere at 10 so we're 'ere at 10, let's go!"

"Well, uh, Jack, maybe we should be knockin'," Race spoke coolly.

"Did she not say sommim' 'bout a window?" Blink's face lit up as he spoke.

"No, dumb ass, she didn't say nuthin' 'bout a window!" Skittery reminded him.

"First I'm a smart ass now I'm a dumb ass?" Blink questioned him.

Skittery crossed his arms, "yeah, yeah you are!"

Swiftly, Kitty slipped through the argument that had escalated to new heights, unnoticed and turned the door knob.

"Boys," she interrupted.

"Maybe we should just walk in; I mean if your arguing hasn't woken her father nothing will," David reasoned.

"Perhaps it's locked and Ana already went to sleep," Race thought aloud to himself.

Kitty grew frustrated, "boys," she repeated in a sing song voice.

"Spot, what'a you think?" Jack asked his friend overtop of the other newsies' voices.

"I'm not sure, Jack," he responded, laughing with Jack as they both stepped back into a conversation of their own.

"Boys!" Kitty finally yelled for everyone's attention.

"Shh!" the boys all quieted her in unison.

"Whatya want?" Race asked, annoyed by yet another voice joining the discussion.

Kitty sighed, "It's open," she told them, pulling the door out far enough for everyone to file through into the main living room in Ana's household.

Everyone gathered inside as Spot closed the door behind them.

"Where's the room we're supposed to be stayin' in?" Blink asked, curiously.

"What if Ana was just kiddin' 'bout the whole thing?" Skittery pondered aloud, worriedly.

"I can hear you from all the way upstairs!" Ana came storming down the stairs in her nightgown.

"Ana!" David excitedly proclaimed as she reached their group, receiving smiles and silent cheers from all the children.

Kid Blink took a step back as Ana positioned herself next to him.

"Boys, I must inform you that I have some news that will be most certainly beneficial to you all," Ana declared, wearing a grin from ear to ear, showing off how proud of herself she was.

Jack crossed his arms, skeptical of what he had just been so boldly informed, "Oh, yeah? And what might that be?"

"I have decided to accompany you all on this little adventure of yours."

Blink and Skittery exchanged a look of confusion while David's face brightened instantly, "Thank you, Ana. Thanks a lot! This'll be great."

"Hold on a second!" Spot raised his hand to David's chest and pushed him backwards, "why're you so keen 'bout joinin' suddenly?"

"Well," Ana began, shocked by the question, "I suppose I just figured that young boys as yourselves could use an elegant lady like myself to help you find your way. It shan't be easy and I expect you've come to realize that by now."

"But you'se a goil; we don't trust goils," Spot continued, observing Ana in a disgusting manner.

"You trust Kitty," she pointed out.

"Ya see, Kitty's Kitty. She ain't no goil. She's just… Kitty," Spot said in attempt to defend his argument.

"I'm just Kitty," Kitty threw her arms up in surrender.

Jack chuckled and turned to Ana, "You're more than welcome ta join us, but ya gotta remembah that we're Newsies, and Newsies ain't gonna treat you like the goil that you are-"

"Yeah, that's what I was trying to get at," Spot took a step back.

"Mhm," Jack nodded towards his friend, "Newsies fight so you'se gotta be willin' ta stand up for yourself."

Ana stood up straight, "Of course I am willing to stand up for myself!"

"Good, good. And one more thing; no one gets left behind, ya hear me? No one. We'se a family and family always comes first. So no chickenin' out every time ya see a man with a daggah comin' ta kill one of us. Ya gotta fight 'im," Jack threatened.

"But I am a lady, and unfair as it may seem, I don't hold the right to do so," Ana's voice shook slightly as she spoke.

"No you ain't. You're a Newsie!" Jack slapped her across the shoulder playfully.

"I don't sell papers, Mr. Kelly. I have a proper job," she unknowingly insulted the seven children who stood surrounding her.

"Newsies ain't the job, Ana; Newsies the name of that family I was talkin' 'bout, remembah?"

Ana nodded, accepting the challenge of becoming an honorary Newsie, "then we shall leave first thing tomorrow morning,"

"But first," Skittery stopped her as she began her way up the stairs, "You're gonna need ta drop that fancy dress."

She rolled her eyes and continued her way up.

"Why do you think she's doing this?" Blink contemplated the many possibilities as he took a seat on the couch in the sitting room.

"I dunno," Skittery joined him.

"I bet she's tryin' to bust us out," Kitty accused, taking a seat next to Blink, folding her arms over her chest.

David sighed, "What we're doing isn't illegal."

Jack laughed, relocating himself to a chair across the couch in which Kitty sat looking irritated.

"What?" David asked.

"Kitty," Jack attempted to explain through chuckles.

David looked at his friend, confused, "what about Kitty?"

"She looks so angry," Jack accused.

"I am not!" Kitty hid her face from Jack.

He threw the pillow from his chair in her direction just to have it returned to him, hitting his face with force.

Kitty rested her head on Blink's shoulder, sleepily and contemplated over the idea of having Ana joining with them. If she was being honest with herself, she wasn't too fond of the whole idea. She wasn't quite sure if she trusted her after the way she had been treating the boys earlier that morning and later that afternoon. Besides, she had a gut feeling that told her having Ana around Jack would only lead to jealousy and heart break on Kitty's end. As soon as one woman left the boy's life another would enter. Never though, was that woman Kitty. It made sense; she was only sixteen. Jack was two years older and it was no surprise that he found interest in older woman. Despite her believing that someone like Jack would never go for someone like her, she still had faith in the fact that she was perfect for him.

"So, uh, Jack," Spot began to speak with hesitation, "where's are we s'posed to be stayin'?"

Everyone looked up from their thoughts that had been interrupted and began brainstorming logical answers in their heads.

"Well she did say somethin' 'bout a guest room, did she not?" Jack responded, standing to look around the corner of the wall that attached itself to the small kitchen leading to a hallway.

"Maybe someone should go ask 'er," Skittery suggested, planting his feet to the ground, refusing to stand up.

The boys all exchanged looks as to say, _you can but I sure won't._

Racetrack dug in his pocket for another cigar and suggested, "how 'bout Spot and Jack go up; they are the leaders after all."

"Me?" Jack questioned, pointing his finger towards himself in disbelief, "no way, the girl scares me too much."

"Mr. Kelly's afraid of some girl?" Kitty joked, dropping her faint accent completely while acting surprised by his statement.

"C'mon, Kit," he responded, attempting not to laugh.

"What if 'er fadda wakes up!" Blink defended his own idea of staying downstairs.

Kitty rolled her eyes and stood up, "you're all such cowards."

The boys all looked at her, all wearing an offended look upon their faces. "No we ain't!" Race declared, fixing his posture.

"Mhm," Kitty nodded as she began her journey up the stairs to find Ana's room.

As she reached the top of the stairs, Kitty found herself faced with two hallways both leading to a separate destination. "What kind of house is this?" she asked herself, mumbling under her breath. The hallways were dark, with nothing more than the lamp located next to the end of the stairway railing. Turning her head around to see the boys' whereabouts, she noticed them all crowded around the bottom step, looking up to watch Kitty. She shook her head and began down the hallway to the right. Lowering herself to ground level, she crawled along the soft patterned carpet, peeking under each door to discover whether or not the lights were on. As she moved further down the hall, the darker it became. Every time she reached a new door she would turn around to see that in she had hardly moved in the long run. Eventually, she reached a door with light shining through the crack on the bottom. Kitty hesitated over whether or not she should knock. Realizing that the only person that it could possibly be was Ana, she stood and reached for the door knob. Slowly she turned it and saw Ana's back facing towards her. "Ana," she whispered, trying to grab the girl's attention.

Quickly, Ana spun around, "Oh, Kitty, you scared me!"

Kitty smiled and took a step into the bedroom. In the center was a queen size bed with a beautiful comforter. In the corner was a white dresser with a mirror placed above it. Everything was simple yet elegant. "Sorry. We were just wonderin' where we were suppose' ta be stayin'."

"Supposed," Ana corrected her, "and do not forget to add the proper endings onto your words."

"What?" Kitty asked, shocked, "you've never corrected the boys before."

"There is much more than grammar that needs to be corrected of those boys," Ana explained with a smile.

"So…" Kitty stood still, waiting for a response from her original question.

"Once you are down stairs, pass the kitchen and there will be a hallway. The guest bedroom is the first door on your right. Though I am afraid there are only two small beds. You will have to make do. Perhaps a few of the boys could take a spot on the floor," Ana suggested.

"Yeah, thanks," Kitty left and closed the door behind her. She groaned to herself as she began quickly down the hallway. Within seconds she reached the stairs and stormed down them. Once half way to the bottom, she heard a heavy figure proceeding down the hallway on the left from upstairs. Without hesitation, she jumped to the bottom, landing with a thud. "Her father's coming," she warned, grabbing Skittery's hand and running into the kitchen where they waited for the others. It only took two seconds for everyone to gather in there before Kitty led them all to what Ana had introduced to her as the guest bedroom. Swiftly, they all piled in, locking the door behind them.

"Did he see you?" David asked, grabbing Kitty's shoulders with a hand on either one.

"No, I just heard him coming," she shook him off.

"What if 'e finds us, Kitty? Then what're we ta do?" Blink panicked, pacing from one side of the room to the other with one hand on his hip and the other on his forehead.

"Settle down, boys, he won't!" she attempted to calm them.

"Why'd ya jump, stupid?!" Spot began walking over to her and hit her across the face, gently.

"Because I was scared!" Kitty defended herself.

"Well I bets ya anything he heard you!" Spot argued.

"It's fine," Jack added in from where he was sitting on one of the beds Ana described as 'small'.

"Whatever, let's just get some sleep," Skittery sighed, setting up a blanket from inside a white dresser just like the one in Ana's room, on the ground.

"Agreed," Race followed Skitts' lead. Jack and Spot ended up claiming both of the beds. Spot because he falsely claimed to have back troubles and Jack because he was Jack. _That ain't fair!_ Race had complained. It had gotten him nowhere considering no one else really minded.

"G'night, fellas," Kitty whispered, followed by a yawn.

"Goodnight, Kitty," Jack was the only one to respond.


	8. Train of Thought

Kitty rubbed her eyes before sitting up from her uncomfortable position on the ground. She groaned as she realized the pain that had appeared in her neck from the awkward sleep that night. Observing her surroundings, she noticed the boys were absent from the room. Cautious not to be seen by Ana's father, she opened the door to see the large grandfather clock in the hallway read 5am. _We gotta go soon_, she thought to herself while she exited the guest room, shutting the door behind her. Voices flowed faintly down the hallway and were recognized right away as the Newsies. "Hiya, boys," she greeted them as she entered the kitchen. All of the boys sat around the island located in the center, eating the biggest meal any of them had had in weeks.

"Heya, Kitty!" Blink greeted cheerfully. The other boys followed with tired grumbles.

"How'd ya sleep?" Jack asked, lacking enthusiasm as he broke apart a fresh bun. She could smell it from the other end of the room and was nearly certain it was still hot as she could see the butter he had spread, melting right away.

"Jus' fine, thanks," she responded, taking a seat in between Race and Skittery, filling the table completely.

"Just," Ana corrected, entering the room with no trace of a smile.

Kitty rolled her eyes and fixed her grammar, mockingly, "Just grand, I thank you very much, Mr. Kelly."

Jack laughed, joining in on the fun, "Wouldn't you be so kind as to ask me how I slept, ma'am?"

The boys all chuckled under their breath.

"Oh, how terribly rude of me! I do hope you will accept my apology."

"Anything for you, Miss. Jasperson" Jack winked at Kitty receiving an unimpressed glare from Ana.

Spot stood from his chair after finishing his meal and wandered over to where Ana was standing, "So, lady, how did _you _sleep?"

"Not too well, I'm afraid. Oh, Spot, what if my father is to find out? I will be in terrible trouble. The thought had me up all night!" she responded, genuinely frightened.

"Well, if I'd known, I would'a come upstairs and joined ya," Spot offered, taking a step closer.

"Lay off it," Race threw his hand in the air in Spot's direction.

"The boy ain't got a chance," Jack whispered to his friends. Everyone nodded in agreement except for Skittery who glanced at Kitty before proceeding on to look at Spot.

"We really need to get going soon," David interrupted, keeping his minor freak out inside himself the best he could.

"Yes, David, I agree. There is a train station located just up the road and I will gladly pay for your tickets. I do not believe they will be too expensive," Ana said, counting the bills she had in her small, white purse.

Racetrack's eyes grew wide, "not too expensive?" he couldn't believe what he had just heard.

"Got enough money there, goil?" Spot asked, intrigued by the amount of money Ana had quickly flying through her fingers as she continued counting.

Kitty looked across the island at Jack who had sat back, completely full from his meal. As she had missed breakfast that morning, without hesitation she grabbed Jack's other roll he had left and broke it apart, spreading large amounts of butter on it.

"Well, shall we go?" Ana asked, impatiently.

The newsies all nodded and stood themselves up. Kitty grabbed herself some of the food that had been leftovers and stuffed everything in her pockets.

"Extra, extra! _War beginning! Could spread throughout all of America! Protect yourselves!"_ a newsboy stood at the side of the road, hawking a made up headline.

"Who's gonna believe somethin' like dat?" Race asked, observing the boy.

Spot smirked, "he could use a lesson or two from good ol' Spot Conlon, huh? I could teach 'im how we do it in Brooklyn."

"He just made that up completely," Kitty accused, "how could you twist _anything_ that much?"

"_America could be at war with itself!_ You heard it here first!" the boy continued.

"What an amateur!" Race judged.

Jack folded his arms over his chest and smiled, "nah, the kids good. He's got real talent."

"Are you kiddin', Jacky boy? Ya must be," Spot suspected.

"No, no. Ya see, it may be complete shit, but he's right; we heard it here. Look at all the costumers he's gettin'!"

"Idiots," Race mumbled under his breath.

"I'll buy a paper, sir!" Ana piped in, quickly wandering over to the young boy with some change in her hands.

"Thank you, lady," the boy handed her a paper and smiled.

"You actually read the paper?" Skittery asked, intrigued.

"Of course I do," Ana responded.

Before long, the group had reached the train station. With any luck, they would be in Chicago within twenty-four hours. The train arrived shortly after purchasing their tickets and they boarded right away.

Walking up to the train, Spot held Skittery behind the others and they began to walk at their own pace. "So," he began, "I'm pretty sure Kitty still hates me. Now, I can assume you're still tryin' ta help me get 'er, right?"

"She doesn't hate you!" Skittery spoke a little too confidently, "she hasn't even talked to you since we've gotten here!"

Spot gave his friend a confused look, "and this helps my situation how?"

"Well, it just means she doesn't hate you," Skittery mumbled, embarrassed once realizing how dumb what he had said had sounded. "Look, why don' you just talk to the girl? She ain't gonna bite you."

Spot sighed and continued on into the train.

"Hey, Kitty," Skittery pushed in front of the others to reach her, "why don't you-"

"Oh, heya, Skitts," Kitty smiled, "we should sit together. We haven't really talked since we got here."

"You know who else you haven't talked with?" Skittery added, taking the occasional glance back to Spot who was eyeing the two from behind the rest of the crowd.

"David," she admitted to herself sighing.

Skittery gave her a confused look, "Uhm, no? Why would you talk to David?"

"Because we're friends!" she sat down in a two person seat and waited for Skittery.

He hesitantly took the spot and continued, "no, not David. No one really cares about David. Why is he even here?" He paused to see Kitty looking slightly offended, "anyway, you haven't spoken to Spot!"

"Ew," she turned her head to face the front, crossing her arms and speaking no more.

Skittery cursed himself in his head and turned to face the girl. "It was your idea to bring him along," he accused.

"Worst mistake of my life," Kitty wore a look of anger upon her still slightly bruised face.

The two sat in silence for a minute.

"I had a really nice shower this morning. Ana has some really neat lavender shampoo," Skittery attempted to make small talk.

"Why do you speak of showering as if it's a new thing?" Kitty asked, slightly confused by his love for lavender.

"I dunno, the water was just warm, I guess," he mumbled, slouching down in his seat.

Three hours had past and by this point the train had fallen silent. Other than a few stray others, the newsies were the only ones filling the seats of the train. They were half way there and Skittery was beginning to grow nervous.

Waking from her light sleep, Kitty looked over at Skitts and grew concerned for her friend. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"Oh," Skittery jumped slightly at hearing her voice, "just a little nervous, ya know?"

"Skitts," she placed a hand on his shoulder and attempted to get him to calm down.

"Wha'? he asked, impatiently awaiting an answer while bouncing his legs up and down at an uneven time.

"You're bouncing."

"Yeah, I'se know," he spoke through a thick accent.

"When you're nervous you bounce and your accent becomes thicker and more unbelievable," she accused.

"What if I can't save my father?" he worried aloud.

"You will," Kitty spoke softly, surprised by his abruptness.

Skittery shook his head in disagreement, "no, I'se won't be able to. I'll 'afta get hims a lawyah or sommin, I dunno."

"Skittery," she turned his head so he'd look into her own eyes, "we have David, the smartest boy to ever sell papes. We have Jack, and we all know he's not gonna back down. We have Blink, and he's gonna be there with you through it all. He's always there to make you smile. We have Ana, and she's got wads of cash floatin' 'round in that purse and she's willing to give some to help out. We have Race, and trust me; he'll be good for something, I just haven't figured out what yet."

Skittery laughed quietly, "yeah, I s'pose. But wha' 'bout Spot?"

"Uhm," Kitty thought about her answer for a short moment, "he's brave. Spot's not afraid of anything. He may be small, but he's scary. I know that if we need someone ta do some soakin', Spot's our man. He's the toughest guy I know," Kitty settled on, oddly satisfied with her answer. _I just spoke positively about Spot and I didn't even have to lie_, she thought to herself.

Kitty and Skittery sat in silence for the remaining time of the train ride. Soon they would be in Chicago and Skittery would be calm once more. If only there was a way for Kitty to assure him that everything would be okay.

**Authors Note: I'm sorry I haven't updated in weeks. I don't get home until 4 and then I have homework and I need a life and then writing gets pushed to the side, I apologize. I'll try to stay on top of it though.**


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